| Date | Distance | Time | Elevation Gain | Average Moving Time | Year to Date Miles |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 8/29/2019 | 10.6 miles | 6 hours 59 minutes | 2,485' ascent, 3,160' descent | 1.5 mph | 389.8 |
We started out walking through the village of Champex Lac - an easy hike. We saw a UTMB aid tent, and then got on the trail. We saw a medic on the trail - hmm - then we started thinking - we might see runners today!
Then the runners started coming. Oh my! The earlier ones were very fast - I felt like we could be run over! There were 1,200 people in today's race. It was not the UTMB, but a shorter race that occurs before the UTMB. So, all 1,200 people must have passed us. It felt like even more! It was hard to hike. We kept trying to catch a gap in the runners & sometimes could only move forward a few feet before we had to step aside again. Bystanders were calling alle, alle! A few of the runners stopped & talked to us briefly. Some took photos of the view & kept running. People said bon jour and merci hundreds of times today! It was pretty exciting, but also a pain. It was a 55k race.
There was a 2:30 pm race cutoff time for Trient, which is where we were staying. We arrived in town right around the cutoff time. There was a big aid tent in town - but the end of the race is in Chamonix (still 2 more hiking days away for us). I got confused trying to find our hotel again from our guide sheet directions. Ugh. Google maps to the rescue. I'm so glad I got a European data plan for my phone! Glen said today was less difficult than expected. We did a lot of pushing hard and then resting while waiting for the runners to go by. Tonight's hotel had a group dinner which I enjoy. It's so fun to meet new people, see others that you have already met, and recount your day. Tonight we talked to a couple from Australia.
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| We saw mushroom hunters on yesterday's hike and part of today's hike. |
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| Sometimes on hills I could hike fast enough to follow the runners (many of whom hike up hill rather than run up hill) |
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| Runners (and hikers) had to hike around the cattle crossing the trail |
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| Aid station for the runners |
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| Approaching Trient |
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| Small village of Trient |
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| The aid station blocked the road, so we walked through it searching for our hotel (going the wrong way of course) |
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| View from our hotel room. There was a bee keeper across the road. |
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| Studying tomorrow's route |
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